Swish! Swish! Swish!

Whoooosh!!

A large open fan spun at high speed dangerously close to Glass. The Five stumbled back at the unexpected attack. Sharp steel edges cut deep into the Shard's arm before spinning back to its master. Xi Xuan caught his fan expertly.

The fight between the two Shards had hardly been five minutes, but the muted commotions had brought out both the Lord of House Zhang and his Captain who were still discussing inside. Despite trying to keep quiet, their fight had inadvertently attracted the attention of the alert Zhangs.

"Check on Ghost," Lord Zhang ordered his Captain. Jumping gracefully into the air, he flung his fan expertly again and again at the intruder. Smaller ones appeared from his sleeves and soon the air was filled with deadly edged whizzing fans.

Although the wounded Shard danced and dodged, the blasted fans chased him as if they were alive. New cuts appeared on Glass' body each time Xi Xuan's weapons came near. He growled in disbelief, the nerdy lordling was taking him on!

Captain Zhang went over to Ghost who was barely conscious. Blood dripped down from his head half blinding him as he lay on the ground choking and clawing at his throat. The cords were too tight and he was too weak.

Quickly, Captain Zhang undid the bind, freeing the Shard. Ghost gasped and heaved, inhaling wonderful air into starved lungs.

"Are you o'kay?" Captain Zhang crouched by the fallen Five.

Ghost nodded between gulps of air. The Five pushed himself up with the help of Captain Zhang ignoring the blood running down his face. His throat hurt but he'd be alright, he was not going to die tonight. He had more pressing issues right now, Glass, he thought lifting his head only to see a fierce battle between his friend and his brother Shard. Fortunately, Xi Xuan was holding his own quite well.

As he watched, Xi Xuan jumped and spun effortlessly in the air, throwing and catching multiple fans gracefully. Glass avoided them as best he could, parkouring expertly out of the way. When they came close, fan and dagger attacked and blocked, meeting again and again without advantage.

Xi Xuan jumped high for leverage and advantage, his voluminous robes fluttering around him. Instead of hindering his movements, the special light fabrics traded with the pirates form faraway lands floated about him, masking his actual body. Targeting him in the air was fools play.

Meanwhile, the deadly whizzing fans continued their onslaught mercilessly.

"Damn you!!" Glass cursed. He didn't know the gentle scholar could fight so well!

The Shard feint a lunge then threw another dagger at the lord. A flurry of attacks followed, flickering knives in his face forcing Xi Xuan to retreat. Timing a counterattack, the Lord lashed back, catching Glass' arms with twin closed fans. Twirling them violently, the angled sharp edges cut and slashed, breaking skin until the Five released his weapons. Not giving up, Glass aimed high landing a kick at Xi Xuan's chest making him stumble back.

"Aren't you going to help him?" asked Ghost worriedly watching Xi Xuan avoiding another barrage of slivers. "He's a high level Shard."

"Xi Xuan can handle himself," replied Zi Min confidently watching the combatants. Both were now catching their breaths. A moment later, the Shard and the lord were at it again.

"He's after Xi Xiu. She's his real Target."

"What!! Lady Zhang?" cried Captain Zhang releasing Ghost to push him away roughly. The young and mischievous Zhang Xi Xiu was the most cherished in the Zhang household. He jumped up to help Xi Xuan. "That's different then!"

"Owww!" Without his support, Ghost slumped painfully back to the ground. "You could have been more gentle!"

Captain Zhang ignored the grumbling Shard, he was too focused in joining the fray. He saw an opening and thrust his sword at the Five. Glass blocked the Captain's attack with a long dagger which appeared in his hand. Skilfully, he parried the longer blade with a ferocity that threw the Captain off balance. Without waiting Glass leveraged himself, jumping up to deal a death blow to the meddling Captain. Luckily, Xi Xuan intercepted him with a series of high kicks, knocking the weapon from his hands.

It was now two against one. No problem, he could deal with two as easily as he could deal with one, thought Glass. Ghost was out of the picture, the younger Shard was still crawling on the ground. He changed his mind soon when the two Zhangs attacked him with fan and sword, both in tandem and complimenting each other. It was clear that they had fought together before.

He was not losing to the nobles! This time he took the offensive. Charging, he threw multiple shard blades. Whilst they were busy flicking them away, he ran low slashing expertly. When he emerged behind them, both were bleeding. Xi Xuan clutched his arm whilst Zi Min his side.

"My Lord!" yelled Zi Min incensed that his cousin lord was hurt. He whirled around brandishing his sword to face the Shard. "How dare you!"

Glass sneered at the indignant Captain, rewarding his outburst with the last of his razor thin blades. Zi Min's outage was cut short as he swung his sword expertly knocking the deadly missiles out of the air.

Just then, Zhang soldiers filed in to surround the combatants. All had their swords out and pointed at the Shard waiting for their Captain's order.

Glass snarled, it was too late to flee.

"Damn you Ghost! You will pay for this! You sabotaged my mission!" Glass cursed at Ghost. "I will kill you all!!"

"Not on my watch, you scum!" growled Captain Zhang.

Suddenly, Ghost sat up up in panic.

"Xi Xuan!! Look out!!" he yelled hoarsely in warning.

Just in time, Xi Xuan flipped open his large fan flicking it at an angle to trigger a secondary layer. Strong thin steel leaves slid from the fan's guard to snapped into place. He jumped back, spinning his glinting grey fan in front of his face and upper body like a live shield.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

A slew of hollow glass needles lodged in between the fan's ribs and steel leaves saving Lord Zhang's life. His signature weapon and namesake carried poison. Upon contact the broken shards would release deadly liquid into its unsuspecting victim.

While they were distracted, Glass had rushed Ghost in a last attempt to kill his rival. He knew there was no way out of his predicament. He could not fight all the Zhang soldiers in his condition. If he was going to die, he was going to take Ghost with him to hell.

Slash! Slash! A final forward trust and Captain Zhang's sword was plunged deep into Glass' body. The veteran Shard dropped to his knees gurgling curses. Captain Zhang was surprised at the sudden pain on his thigh. Glass had managed to stick a small blade into him before collapsing.

"No!!" shouted Ghost. "Don't kill him!"

But it was too late. Captain Zhang had already yanked out his sword to impale the Shard a second time. He kicked Glass away, pulling his sword clean. Glass fell backwards with a cry. The Five glared with hateful eyes at those around him and snarled through bloody teeth like a maniac as he succumbed to death. His body twitched a few more times before becoming still.

-----

"Stand down! Stand down!" ordered Captain Zhang to the ring of soldiers. All had drawn swords pointed at him and the Shards.

Ghost crawled to over to Glass' body leaving a trail of blood.

"No! No! No!" he cried hoarsely shaking his head. "This can't be! What a mess!" There was panic and fear in his voice. What had the Captain done? With one stroke, he had brought down the wrath of the Dark Sect onto House Zhang. He had brought disaster onto House Zhang! Onto Xi Xuan and Xi Xiu!

"What are you talking about," asked Xi Xuan. "He was trying to kill you. He attacked me! Zi Min was right to kill him."

Ghost took a shuddering breath. He blinked again to clear his eyes to look apprehensively at Captain Zhang who was wiping down his bloody sword.

"Xi Xuan, promise me you will do as I say."

Captain Zhang bristled, "No one tells my Lord what to do!"

Ghost ignored him. "Xi Xuan promise me! Please, this is extremely important!"

The urgency in his voice sparking concern.

"What is it?"

Ghost revealed another dagger from his boot to stab Glass in the exact same place Captain Zhang had dealt the killing blow.

"I killed Glass," Ghost stated flatly.

"No, you did not, Zi Min did," Xi Xuan disagreed. "We all saw it."

"NO! You don't understand! I'm the one who must kill Glass not any one of you!" his voice cracked in his agitation. One hand went to his lacerated throat when he started heaving.

"O'kay, o'kay, don't get worked up," said Captain Zhang. "If you want the credit for killing him, just say so."

Ghost closed his eyes willing his friend to do as told. "Please order your men that it is so."

Xi Xuan exchanged loaded glances with Zi Min. It must be something unknown to them but if it was so important to Xiao Gui .... He jerked his head decisively to his Captain.

Orders! Captain Zhang gave a curt nod of understanding.

"Attention!"

All the soldiers immediately snapped to attention.

"Everyone here is to witness that the man here, killed the intruder, not me," said the Captain in a clear voice. "Understand?"

"Yes Sir!" chorused the men. All knew something was up but it was not their business. Their duty was to follow orders from their Lord and their Captain.

"Now return to your posts. We will get to the bottom of this."

Swords hissed as they were sheathed. Their lord was safe. The intruder was dead. And the wounded man was in their Captain's charge. The disciplined men returned to their positions without another word.

"Lord Zhang ..." croaked Ghost. He seemed to be struggling with something. "Can you get Key here? I need him to ... deal with the body."

It was his duty to get Glass' body back to the Dark Sect. Even a traitor must be returned to the Sect.

"We can get rid of it together with the Zhai spies," said Captain Zhang.

"What?" asked Xi Xuan startled.

"My Lord, Zhai's men were found dead at their posts where they were keeping surveillance on us. I'll make sure their bodies aren't found. We'll carry on as usual as if nothing untoward happened here. No one will know what happened to them."

"Good."

"No, not Glass' body," protested Ghost, "We have our own rules. We must return his body to the Sect or they will come looking for him," said Ghost. He would ensure Glass returned to the Dark Sect with his report of the incident. He'd control the narrative and hopefully the potential damage to House Zhang. "Please ..."

Xi Xuan nodded and Captain Zhang gestured a guard for orders.